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Mom Uses Pumpkin Theft as Life Lesson for Toddler

Melissa Willets

About the Author

Melissa Willets is a mom of three girls, one of whom is a newborn. She writes about pregnancy, parenting, home, health, and beauty. She loves running and drinking red wine - but never simultaneously.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

Becky Reina used a Halloween pumpkin theft as a teaching moment for her two-year-old son, Tommy. Rather than replace his stolen pumpkin and pretend like nothing happened, the mom-of-two decided to teach her tot a thing or two about life.

"To the person who stole my son's pumpkin: Thank you for the life lesson, this will help teach him that sometimes people are mean for no reason, and you have to just brush it off. Because my son is two years old and cannot read the sign, I will add, you are an ***hole," Reina wrote on a sign outside of her home according to ABC News.

This tough mama then took a picture of her handiwork and shared it on her Facebook page. A friend posted the shot on Reddit and it instantly spread around the web like wild fire.

It all started when the Reinas visited a pumpkin patch and little Tommy hand-picked his own gourd. Upon proudly displaying his find on the front stoop, the tyke went outside to count the family pumpkins on the stoop with his mom each morning.

That is why Reina knew her kiddo would notice when the pumpkin was stolen. She said she never even considered fibbing to her son about the incident or stealthily replacing the pumpkin. Instead, she wants her tot to know that bad things happen and you just have to get over it.

I admire this mom for using an unfortunate incident to teach her son a lesson. I also like her sense of humor. Why not have a little fun with the situation?

Recently my five-year-old daughter dropped her cupcake on the floor of a store seconds after I bought it because she was clowning around. In the past, I might have bought her another one because I felt bad for her. But this time, I decided to make this a teaching moment.

"Next time don't fool around," I chided her and we left. Yep, there was guilt but I wanted her to know that sometimes things, well, suck.

Have you used a situation like a pumpkin theft or dropped treat to teach your tot a life lesson?